IPA’s 18-month Diploma in Financial Accounting is a computer accounting diploma that trains you for a junior accountant job, and it adds Advanced Excel, SAP FICO, personality development and English speaking, capital market and share trading, and company law basics to everything in the 12-month course. It covers books in Tally Prime and BUSY, GST returns, TDS, income tax returns (ITR 1 to 4) and payroll with PF and ESI. It is taught at IPA – Institute of Professional Accountants, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi (teaching since 2003), at its campus at E-54, Metro Pillar No. 44. It carries IPA’s 100% job guarantee: interviews are arranged until you are placed, subject to your performance and IPA’s criteria, and IPA’s published placement record reports a placement rate above 98% for diploma students. Classes are taken by IPA’s trainers, with CA and MBA faculty for specialised sessions. IPA is rated 4.6 out of 5 from 313 reviews on its Google Business Profile (checked 28 September 2026). Fees depend on your batch and mode.
What is the 18-month Diploma in Financial Accounting?
The 18-month Diploma in Financial Accounting is a practical, job-oriented diploma at IPA – Institute of Professional Accountants in Laxmi Nagar, Delhi. It teaches the whole compliance cycle of a small or mid-sized business: keeping the books, filing the returns and running the salaries, on the software and government portals an accounts desk uses every day. That means Tally Prime and BUSY for the books, the GST and income tax portals for returns, and Zoho Payroll for salaries with PF and ESI. IPA’s brochure lists it as a diploma in e-accounting, finance, banking, e-taxation and payroll, with a duration of 18 months. It starts with the same foundation as IPA’s 12-month diploma, then goes further: Advanced Excel, SAP FICO, personality development and English speaking, capital market and share trading, and company law basics are added on top. Junior accountant is the job it prepares you for, and as a diploma it carries IPA’s 100% job guarantee.
Who can join the 18-month diploma?
The 18-month diploma is meant for commerce students and graduates who want more than the core accounts desk. IPA’s published eligibility is 12th pass commerce students, with or without maths, and B.Com graduates, along with job seekers and small business owners. Students from commerce, arts and science can all join. If you have never met accounting, that is fine: the course starts with what a ledger is, why a purchase is a debit and what a trial balance proves, and GST, TDS and payroll are layered on once the basics have settled. The extra months suit students who also want interview preparation, spoken English and a first look at the share market, and who can give the course the time. Weekday and weekend batches are available, and there is no entrance exam.
What the 18-month syllabus covers: diploma in financial accounting modules
The 18-month syllabus at IPA covers the four layers of accounts work a junior accountant needs, and the full module list is shown above. The foundation is business financial accounting, basic computers and MS Office. The software layer is computerised accounting in Tally Prime and BUSY, and payroll in Zoho Payroll. The compliance layer covers GST return filing, TDS calculation and returns, income tax returns (ITR 1 to 4), PF and ESI. The wider business layer adds auditing and banking. On top of these four layers, this diploma adds Advanced Excel, SAP FICO, personality development and English speaking, capital market and share trading, and company law basics; they are set out in the next section. The tax content follows the current law. The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026, so TDS returns and salary certificates now use the new form numbers, with Form 130 in place of Form 16. The four Labour Codes, in force from 21 November 2025, now govern the wage rules that payroll depends on, and the payroll module is taught to them.
What is extra in the 18-month diploma
IPA’s brochure for the 18-month diploma lists every module of the 12-month course, and five more. Advanced Excel and SAP FICO are the two corporate tools that the 15-month diploma also adds. Personality development and English, capital market and share trading, and company law basics appear only in the 18-month diploma. The five are listed below. Where IPA’s syllabus gives only the name of a module, only the name is shown here, and the counsellor can tell you how it is taught.
- Advanced Excel
- SAP FICO
- Personality development and English
- Capital market and share trading
- Company law (basics)
Compared with the 15-month diploma, the 18-month course adds personality development and English, capital market and share trading, and company law basics. Banking is part of the syllabus too: internet banking, online payment of taxes, payment gateways, cheques, the Indian banking system, the functions of the Reserve Bank of India, and how savings, current and overdraft accounts work. That module is also in the 12-month and 15-month courses. The 12-month course is described on the ADFA page.
How long is the 18-month diploma? Duration, batches and fees
The 18-month diploma at IPA runs for 18 months, and a fast-track option shortens it if you can attend more often. You choose weekday or weekend batches, in the classroom at E-54, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi, or online. Students outside Delhi can join through IPA’s online accounting course batches. Batch timings change with each intake, so confirm the schedule when you enquire.
18-month diploma fees at IPA
The 18-month diploma is the longest programme IPA runs, so its fee is worked out for your own batch and mode, and an offer running when you enquire can change it. A quote should spell out what it covers: study material, practice on the software and portals, the IPA certificate, the placement guarantee and how instalments work. Online students also get recorded lectures on IPA’s LMS.
Comparing 18-month diploma fees elsewhere? Check the total hours, live or recorded-only classes, whether the extra modules (Excel, SAP FICO, company law) are part of the plan, and whether placement help is in the price or extra. The counsellor on 9213855555 can walk you through a quote.
The 18-month diploma and junior accountant roles: what the job involves
After the 18-month diploma, a fresher in a junior accountant role supports a senior accountant or a CA and owns the routine records of a business. In a typical month that means setting up a company in Tally Prime or BUSY with its ledgers, groups and GST details, and posting the month’s vouchers. It means keeping debtor and creditor balances current, and closing the month with a bank reconciliation and a trial balance that agrees. It also means preparing GST returns from the sales and purchase registers, depositing TDS on salaries, rent and contractor payments, and preparing the quarterly TDS return. Salaries are processed in Zoho Payroll with each employee’s PF and ESI worked out, and in return season the junior accountant prepares income tax returns for the owner, partners or salaried clients. The capital market and company law modules add background for roles that touch investments and company records. IPA lists accountant, accounting assistant, tax assistant, accounts executive, payroll executive, banking executive and SAP executive as roles for this diploma.
Freelance accounting for small businesses is possible once you have experience.
18-month diploma salary: what freshers earn
Published salary data puts a first accounts job well below what many institutes advertise, so read each figure with its source and date. Junior accountants in India with under a year’s experience report about ₹2.1 lakh to ₹2.4 lakh a year (AmbitionBox, 34,500 salaries, updated 24 September 2026). Accountants in New Delhi with 1 to 3 years report about ₹2.5 lakh to ₹2.8 lakh a year (AmbitionBox, updated 22 September 2026). Recruiter data for larger companies is higher: Randstad India’s Salary Trends Report 2024-25 gives an average CTC of ₹4.49 lakh for junior accounting roles (0 to 5 years) in Delhi-NCR. In Delhi the law also sets a floor: ₹24,356 a month for a graduate in clerical work, under the Delhi Labour Department’s order in force from 1 April 2025. Treat these as ranges to test offers against, not promises: your own pay will depend on the employer and on how confidently you handle the software in an interview.
Our guide to accountant salary in India explains how pay grows with experience.
The 18-month diploma or another IPA course?
Choose the 18-month diploma if you want the full compliance cycle of an accounts desk, the Excel and SAP layer, and also interview and English practice, the capital market and company law basics, with the 100% job guarantee. IPA’s other diplomas trade length for scope. The 12-month ADFA diploma is the core accounts course in one year. The 15-month diploma adds Advanced Excel and SAP FICO, without the extra modules above. The 6-month diploma teaches Tally, BUSY, GST, TDS and payroll, without ITR, Zoho Payroll or audit, and the 8-month BAT course is accounting plus GST, TDS and ITR filing. Each of these diplomas also carries the job guarantee. If you need only one skill, a short course such as the 3-month payroll course is quicker, but it carries placement assistance rather than the guarantee. The table sets the options side by side.
| If you want | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The core accounts desk in one year | 12-month ADFA diploma | Books, GST, TDS, ITR 1 to 4 and payroll, without the Excel and SAP modules |
| The core job skills in half the time | 6-month diploma | Tally, BUSY, GST, TDS and payroll, without ITR, Zoho Payroll or audit |
| Tax work, without payroll software | BAT course (8 months) | Accounting plus GST, TDS and ITR filing |
| Excel and SAP FICO, without the extra modules | 15-month diploma | Adds Advanced Excel and SAP FICO to the 12-month course |
| Only SAP FICO or only Excel | SAP FICO course or Advanced Excel course | Short courses with placement assistance, not the guarantee |
| Only payroll | Payroll course (3 months) | A short course with placement assistance, not the guarantee |
To see every IPA programme in one list, start from IPA’s accounting courses in Delhi.
Is the 18-month diploma a computer accounting or e-accounting course?
Yes. IPA’s brochure titles the 18-month diploma as an e-accounting diploma, and every module ends on a screen or a government portal, not in a notebook, the way an accounts desk works today. By the end of the course a student should be able to create a company in Tally Prime, set up ledgers and stock items, and record sales, purchases, receipts and payments. They should also be able to turn the trial balance, profit and loss account and balance sheet into reports a business owner can read. Software only posts what you tell it to, which is why the course starts from accounting principles.
The table maps the syllabus modules to the on-screen work each one trains.
| Module | The on-screen part |
|---|---|
| Accounting foundations | Computerised accounting and MS Office, once the principles are clear on paper |
| Accounting and payroll software | Books in Tally Prime and BUSY, and salaries, PF, ESI and salary structuring in Zoho Payroll |
| Income Tax | Basics of income tax, heads of income, Chapter VI-A deductions, computation of total income, TDS, advance tax and filing income tax returns (ITR 1 to 4) on the income tax portal |
| GST | GST registration, time of supply, input tax credit, tax invoice, reverse charge, composition scheme, GST returns and e-way bill, on the GST portal |
| Audit and banking | Auditing, and e-commerce banking |
| Advanced Excel | Formulas and financial functions on a worksheet |
| SAP FICO | Company set-up, chart of accounts and ledger accounts in the SAP finance module |
| Personality development and English | Interview techniques, resume preparation, and spoken and business English |
| Capital market and share trading | Trading on a broking platform and reading technical indicators |
| Company law (basics) | Registrar of Companies, forming a company, and the memorandum and articles of association |
If you only need the software, the 1 to 2-month Tally course is quicker. Our guide on how to become a computer accountant in India maps the skills step by step.
How the 18-month diploma is taught
The 18-month diploma is taught at IPA’s Laxmi Nagar campus by practising every topic on screen until it is routine: vouchers first, then the ledgers they change, then the return or salary sheet they feed. Batches are small, so a beginner can ask the basic question and the trainer can check each screen. Trainers show how one entry carries through to the GST return, the tax computation and the salary register, which is the habit an employer is paying for. The faculty IPA publishes for these subjects includes Mr. Santosh and Mr. Ravindar (Tally and BUSY, 20+ years each), Ms. Neena (CA, 20+ years, tax, audit and payroll), Mr. Mohit (CA, income tax and audit), Mr. Deepak (M.Com, 20+ years, Excel and MIS), Ms. Shikha (MBA, GST and Tally) and Ms. Aditi (MBA, business and finance). They belong to IPA’s team of eight listed trainers, and every listed trainer is profiled on the IPA faculty page. The same trainers teach the online batches, so a student who joins from outside Delhi follows the same sequence as a classroom student at E-54.
18-month diploma online: live batches across India
The 18-month diploma is also taught online, in live batches led by an instructor and open to students anywhere in India. You follow the same 18 months syllabus with the same trainers as the Laxmi Nagar classroom: Tally Prime and BUSY, GST and TDS, ITR 1 to 4, payroll in Zoho Payroll, and the added modules. Online students receive the same IPA certificate when they complete the diploma. Classes run live on Zoom, recorded lectures on IPA’s own LMS help you revise, and your practice is guided by your instructor. Weekday and weekend batches are available and timings are flexible depending on your batch, so you can keep a job or a college timetable while you study. To enrol, send the enquiry form on this page or WhatsApp 9213855555. Online students get placement support, and you can book a free demo class before you decide. IPA’s online accounting courses page explains how the live classes work.
The job guarantee on the 18-month diploma
The 18-month diploma is a diploma programme, so it carries IPA’s 100% job guarantee: IPA keeps arranging interviews with employers until you are placed, on condition that your performance meets its criteria. Terms apply, so ask about them before you enrol. IPA reports a placement rate above 98% for students who complete its diplomas. The same guarantee applies to IPA’s other diplomas: the 6, 12, 15 and 18-month diplomas, the BAT course and the Diploma in Taxation. Short courses such as Tally or GST carry placement assistance instead: resume guidance, interview practice and referrals to employers hiring for that skill. Students’ own video accounts are on the reviews and placements page.
Learn more before you decide
- Other routes after school: diploma courses after 12th commerce, and for graduates, diploma courses after B.Com.
- Comparing lengths: our overview of one-year courses after 12th or graduation.
- Live near the campus? The accounting course in Laxmi Nagar page covers the local batches and the routes from nearby areas.
- First topics to practise: journal entries questions with answers and the meaning of debtor and creditor, with examples.
- Accounting foundations: how to set out a trial balance with a worked example, and how to match the books to the bank statement.
- The payroll side, step by step: the payroll process in India.
